Camp Halfblood Goes Stringy!
by Margoroxas517
Summary: When Chiron decides Camp needs to work together better, he signs them for... Orchestra! Now they must travel to Forks, Washington to meet their competetion, and hopefully, win.


Percy's P.O.V

I tuned my violin with great care. I didn't want to break it, because Chiron paid _a lot _of drachmas for these. I was sitting next to Annabeth. She was tuning her violin as well, but she looked a lot less nervous than I did. Grover was playing his harp, Juniper her viola. Clarisse had her Cello, and the Stoll brothers had their fiddles. Silena was hacking away on the piano with amazing skill. Beckendorf looked completely dumbfounded with his cello. Thalia looked like she would like nothing better but to leave, but she sat loyally next to her bass.

I think Annabeth noticed my carefulness, because she leaned over to help. "Here Seaweed Brain. Try it this way," then she noticed how close she was to me. She smiled at me. I smiled back.

I looked around the room again, taking silent attendance. Silena, Grover, Annabeth… Nico. Where was Nico? He said he would be on time!

Chiron galloped in. "Hello, children! Today, we begin training for the orchestra competition this year, taking place in Forks, Washington!"

"Chiron, why are we doing this again? Johnny Vexengtion is waiting for me by the bathrooms for his bullying."

"Well, I'm glad you asked, Clarisse. The reason isn't complex; I just want us to…"

All the sudden, Nico came jumping into the room. He was making an air guitar motion and making guitar noises. "Alright! Hand me my electric guitar!!! I'm ready to play a strings instrument!"

The Stoll Brothers burst out laughing. Nico looked confused. Chiron put his hand on his shoulder. "Nico, we are talking about things such as violins. Not electric guitars."

Nico turned angrily to the Stoll brothers. "You tricked me."

"Duh."

"It's what we do."

"You guys are toast!"

After about thirty minutes of calming Nico down and ah… 'Disciplining,' the Stoll Brothers, we found Nico and instrument.

"I think you should play the bass."

"What's that?"

Chiron retreated to the closet and pulled out a bass taller than Luke.

"A little big, isn't it?" Nico asked timidly.

The class laughed. Chiron handed Nico the bass gently. He almost toppled over the weight. He was able to drag it to a chair.

"Um, Nico. You have to reach the top," Chiron pointed out.

"I'm too short!" he replied, "Besides, I'd to much better on the _guitar…_"

"Just stand on a chair! Sheesh!" Annabeth called out. She, like me, was getting tired of waiting.

Nico, who was murmuring inaudible things to himself, finally was ready to play.

"Alright, let's start off by seeing how each of you plays. Connor and Travis, you guys can go first."

"Okay," they said in unison. They greased their bows in rosin, and began to play.

I swear to the gods, my ears popped. The sound was awful squeaking louder than the Titan's cries. I clutched my ears in pain. I glanced over at Annabeth. She was lightly covering her ears, and muttering, "Just a noise, just a noise…"

Once they had finished playing, everyone sighed in relief.

"Um, very interesting, boys. You are going to need some practice. Good job…" Chiron said awkwardly.

"Yeah!" they said together, fist punching.

"Yes… um. Clarisse! You can go next."

Clarisse was nothing exciting. She played the notes well, but cursed every time she messed up. Any parent watching us would die of shock because of the things Clarisse mouthed off.

"Excellent playing, Clarisse! But ah, work on your posture and language, will you? Okay, Grover, wow us."

Grover played with such delicateness I was surprised we could even hear him. He played weird notes. Probably notes a goat would find pretty. Not humans.

Juniper was next, and she was just boring. She played sad tunes, and they were really slow. It would take her three seconds to play one note.

Silena was next. She played so well, I forgot she was Aphrodite's child, and mistaken her for Apollo's. Maybe we actually had a chance, with her on our team.

Beckendorf played, then Nico. Nico was pretty bad too. But that didn't surprise me. He was only twelve. He looked really confused the whole time, and he had his tongue stuck out. He actually asked Chiron to let him quit, but Chiron refused. "This is a group effort, Nico. You can't leave. I'm sorry." Nico slumped in his seat and pouted.

"Oh, you can leave, we don't mind," Thalia pointed out.

Nico jumped out of his chair. "You're dead!" he screamed.

Twenty minutes proceeded of Nico chasing Thalia. Once Clarisse had successfully caught Nico and placed him in his chair, kicking and yelling, we finally continued on.

Thalia played next. Her notes were smooth and effortless. Everyone gave her a standing ovation after she finished, (not counting Nico,) and moved on.

"Percy? Play."

I gulped. My throat was tight. I picked my bow shakily. I began to play the notes Paul Blowfish, I mean, Blofis, had taught me before this meeting. G, B, C, D, E, F, and F #. Everyone nodded approvingly. I guess I did okay.

Annabeth played last, and she was amazing. Once she was finished, I leaned and whispered in her ear. "A hidden talent, maybe?" She smiled.

Overall, excusing Annabeth, Thalia, and Silena,

We sucked.

After months of training, hours of playing, and weeks of music, our group met up at Buffalo National Airport at 6:30 to catch a flight to Forks. Everyone's luggage had been put on our private plane, and everyone was bouncy with excitement.

"I can't believe we're going to Forks, Washington!" Annabeth exclaimed, "I can't wait to see the Space Needle!" she glanced at my pondering expression. "It's a piece of architecture." I nodded.

Chiron rolled in, (he was in wheelchair form,) and clapped his hands to get our attention. "Look where we are! You guys have improved so much! We have a chance, my friends! So, now we board the plane!"

We erupted in cheers. And, in an orderly fashion, boarded the plane that would take us to Forks.

Annabeth's head was rested on my shoulder. She was sleeping quite contently. Me? I couldn't sleep. Too nervous. Not because of the oncoming trial, but because I was flying. Chiron must have forgotten that I _hate _flying. I was terrified of Zeus blasting me out of the skies. I thought of what Annabeth would say.

"**Thalia is on the plane, Percy. He wouldn't blast his own daughter, Seaweed Brain!"**

That thought calmed me, but I still wouldn't sleep.

At around 1:30 in the afternoon, the food cart came around. I grabbed a cup of, "whatever you want it to be drink,' and a bag of peanuts. Then I remembered. I should give up the best part of my meal in sacrifice to the gods.

I opened the bag and dumped the peanuts on the table. I sorted through them and picked the best one. I placed it in my barf bag. _"I'll sacrifice soon enough, Dad. Give me some time," _I silently assured Poseidon. Then I popped a peanut into my mouth.

At 8:45 P.M., the plane landed in rainy, depressing Forks, Washington. **(A/N: I personally love Washington State and plan to live there someday. I just figured Percy would say that.)** We retrieved our luggage, and Silena threw a fit because one of her red velvet duffels was missing. Not that it would totally disable her, she had eighty of them, but she freaked.

We passed Burger King on the way out, and I had a spark of genius. "Annabeth," I muttered. "Huh?" she replied. "Do you still have that best gummy worm you picked out?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"Then follow me."

We silently slipped away from the group right when Nico tried to shoplift a creepy picture of his dad from this Goth shop and protested by claiming he was "just looking."

We sneaked through the employee door of Burger King and made our way to the fryer. We dropped our offerings in the fire. "Whoever orders fries are going to love this flavor," I whispered. Annabeth laughed.

And we snuck back to the group.

The rest of the day before the tournament passed uneventfully. Annabeth got Forks baseball cap, Grover learned a new reed pipe song, but other than that, nothing.

We arrived at Forks High School in record time. Everyone was dressed in their concert clothes. Compared Silena, who was wearing a black and white dress, with black heels, I looked like a piece of trash.

We filed in to the auditorium. Chiron took attendance. "Thalia? Where is Thalia? Nico, can you go find Thalia?"

"Uh, sure…" Nico muttered.

Nico's P.O.V

I probably looked like an idiot, wandering around the school. But I truly didn't know where to look for Thalia. I'm not a girl. No matter what the Stoll Brothers say.

Once I hit the deserted part of the school, I could hear the sound of whimpering. What was that? I decided to follow the sound.

I got lost at least twice. I didn't even know this school existed, so I knew no prior knowledge. But I found the source of the sound. It was Thalia! And she was… crying?! Am I seeing things???

I knelt down next to her. "Um… Thalia?"

She looked up at me, her tear-stained face mournful. I had never seen her look so weak before.

"W-what do you want," she sniffled.

"Well, Chiron sent me to look for you. But I'm more interested in why you're crying."

She wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I can't go out there, Nico. I can't."

I was shocked. "But… you're one of our best players! We'll get flattened without you! Annabeth and Silena are good, but they can't carry the whole team! Especially with me around!"

"Don't say that about you," Thalia scorned.

"Oh, you know it's true!" I snapped, fishing in my pocket for a tissue. I retrieved one from my tuxedo pocket and handed it to her.

"Why can't you?" I asked, concerned.

She wiped her tears with the tissue and took a few moments to let her breathing slow down to normal. Then she looked at me.

"It was ten years ago. I was performing in my Kindergarten Dance. I was playing the main Snowflake, and I was super jazzed, no pun intended. But when I got on stage, I tripped at the beginning of the song. I tried to redeem myself, but I just got sloppier and sloppier. Until I finally just plopped on the stage and cried. The audience stared, and I've never performed in front of a crowd since."

I was stunned, speechless even. I put my arm around her and smiled. "It'll be okay. You have to give it another shot. You've got to learn to think positive. Go out there and wow them. Cover up for my bass playing."

She smiled. "Thanks, Nico."

I stood and offered her my hand. "No problem. I'm your bud."

And together we walked to the auditorium.

Percy's P.O.V

Annabeth dropped her handkerchief by her feet. "Uh, Percy, could you get that for me?" I laughed. "Sure," I said, handing it back to her. We stared at each other, hand in hand.

"You know, I don't see why you couldn't just pick it up yourself, Annabeth," Nico said.

"Oh shut up!" we said in unison.

I looked out into the full audience, and my heart stopped. The gods and goddesses were sitting in the audience! I nearly screamed, but thankfully, I choked instead.

"Annabeth, look!" I said urgently, shaking her hard.

She did, and she gasped. "If we suck, they'll blast us to bits! And we don't know how good our competition is!"

On cue, a group of extremely good looking girls and boys walked in. They looked seventeen through twenty.

"Team Forks," the announcer said casually, "Bella Swan, Jasper Hale, Rosalie Hale, Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Emmet Cullen." **(A/N: Sorry, couldn't resist putting them in! ;))**

"Oh my gods! We're playing against vampires, Percy!" Annabeth shrieked.

"Team Manhattan," the announcer said with less enthusiasm, "Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood, Nico Di Angelo, Thalia Smith, Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, Connor Stoll, Travis Stoll, Juniper Fern, **(A/N: Couldn't remember her last name, if it was even mentioned. Sorry!) **And Clarisse La Rue.

"First up, Team Forks."

I practically had a heart attack by how well these students played. They were like naturals! I knew we had no chance. Even if we did try our best.

Once they finished, they shot us nasty looks.

"And, Team Manhattan."

We prepared our bows, waiting for Chiron to give us the conductors cue. "Annabeth, I can't due this," I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. The god's eyes were boring holes into us.

"Yes you can," she retorted. "Just Believe."

And so, we began. We started off by playing _Believe_ by Josh Groban. Then we played _Turkey in the Straw_, followed by _Muskrat Love_, (Grover's favorite.) Then we finished off with the _Lincoln Portrait_, and a Piano and Bass duet, called _"Reign of the Gods."_

The audience erupted in cheers far more enthusiastic than the beautiful musicians'.

"And the winner is… Manhattan!" the announcer screeched. **(A/N: Happy Ending, right? Just wait!)**

"Oh, Seaweed Brain, we did it!" Annabeth squealed. She kissed me on the lips. I looked shocked. She did too. She began to apologize madly, but I didn't care. That finished filling my ultimate happy meter.

And even Thalia & Nico looked happy.


End file.
